


let us cling together as the years go by

by sargentblue



Category: SKAM (TV)
Genre: M/M, Marriage Proposal, Unconventional Proposal, if even proposed on isak's birthday like some of us were lowkey rooting for, sorry it's not at 21:21 i had to fit canon in
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-23
Updated: 2017-06-23
Packaged: 2018-11-17 09:44:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11272941
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sargentblue/pseuds/sargentblue
Summary: *It's been sitting in Even's front pocket for a while. He could feel the weight of it against his leg throughout the day, and Even feels like it sticks out like a sore thumb, but Isak (or anyone else, for that matter) hasn't noticed.It's not surprising, really. Isak is not very observant at the best of times and the only time he really notices if anything is going on in Even's pants is for very different reasons. Very different indeed.It's safe to say Even's a little bit on edge for the duration of the gathering. Asking someone to marry you is no small feat.*(or: even proposes on isak's birthday.)





	let us cling together as the years go by

**Author's Note:**

> ok so this is my first fic on here and i'm pretty scared so please be kind. or don't, but maybe could you be unkind gently? 
> 
> also, sorry for the cheesy ass title, it's from my favourite song so i wanted to use it.
> 
> happy reading, i guess??

*

It's been sitting in Even's front pocket for a while. He could feel the weight of it against his leg throughout the day, and Even feels like it sticks out like a sore thumb, but Isak (or anyone else, for that matter) hasn't noticed.

It's not surprising, really. Isak is not very observant at the best of times and the only time he really notices if anything is going on in Even's pants is for very different reasons. Very different indeed.

It's safe to say Even's a little bit on edge for the duration of the gathering. Asking someone to marry you is no small feat.

Which leads him to the thought that if this feat were to be compared to actual feet, then Even would say this feat was about the size of _his_ feet, which is to say: massive. He's still learning not to be insecure about them.

"Even, bro?" Magnus says and sits down next to him on the picnic blanket, apparently having removed his mouth from Vilde's.

"Hm?"

"Are you okay? You know Isak's enjoying himself, right? This is probably the best party he's ever had."

_What?_

_Oh_ , Magnus thinks he's still unwinding from the stress of planning this whole extravaganza.

"No, no, I'm fine," he says, because he is and even if he's not, he's gonna fake it til he makes it.

"You sure? You seem tense. I can massage your shoulders if you want," Magnus says earnestly, perhaps a little too earnestly. It was a bit freaky at first how Magnus seemed to want to do things with and for him all the time, but Isak has explained to him that it's just because Mags looks up to him a lot. Even still doesn't really know why he would. He appreciates it nonetheless. Magnus is one of his best friends.

"Nah, don't worry about me, just thinking is all."

Magnus nods, then asks, "What about?"

Even deliberates for a while, switching between the thought of telling him what's up or just keeping his mouth shut. He decides to be vague.

"I have a surprise for Isak, but I don't know if I should go ahead with it or not."

"You mean the video? Bit late to take that one back. I think he'll scalp you if you decide he can never see it. He's been looking for ages," Magnus nods his head towards where Isak stands with Eva, 35% engaged in the conversation and 65% not at all. His thumbs are going haywire on the phone's keyboard. Even's not too sure how he hasn't found it yet, he was pretty obvious when naming it.

"No, I want him to see that," he says, leaning back onto his hands, watches as Eva leans into Isak and yells a suggestion into his ear. Laughs when Isak winces.

"Oh," Magnus has a frown on his face, "Then what is it?"

"Want me to just say it?"

"Go ahead."

"You sure?" Even's mostly just stalling now. He's got some real anxiety at the moment. The knees weak, mom's spaghetti type.

"Yep."

He takes a deep breath in, glancing at Isak. It's once again confirmed in the furrow of his brows and the frown on his lips, that yes, Even wants to spend the rest of his life with this boy - _man_ , as of midnight.

Even pulls the ring out of his pocket and Magnus yells, _"Holy fuck!"_ much to the displeasure of a few fellow park dwellers. Even has the decency to offer an apologetic smile to a father with a child hanging from his leg before turning back to shut Magnus up.

A few of their friends heard the yell and now were staring at the two. Even smiles tensely at Magnus, signalling with his eyes _shut up now, right the hell now._ Magnus calms himself by taking massive heaving breaths. Nice and subtle.

Isak is still looking suspiciously at Even, eyes narrowed and, _oh shit,_ the ring. Glancing down at his hands, Even is the second most relieved he's ever been in his life (the first being when Isak ran to tell him he wasn't alone, all those months ago) when he sees that his hand has instinctively balled into a fist, the ring safely tucked away in his palm.

He blows one of those air kisses that he and Isak have started doing despite getting absolutely ribbed by their friends, and Isak blows one back, albeit hesitantly, before turning back to his phone.

Once Magnus has calmed and he's no longer is breathing like he just wrestled a bull, he squeaks out, "Is that an engagement ring or is that just some random ring you have in your pocket? I'm freaking out here."

Despite the pounding of his heart, Even laughs and says, "I want to propose."

"Holy fuck," Magnus replies, only this time it's soft and awed. "Evak are getting _married_?"

Even smiles. "Well, I've got to ask first, don't I?"

"You don't need to worry about that, Isak will say yes." It's said with full confidence, _don't worry about it Even, it's fine Even, no stress._

"Hm? How do you know?" He can't help the knitting of his brows and the hesitance that creeps into his words.

Magnus makes a duh face, "You're _Isak and Even_. Isak is going to say yes."

"So I should do it?"

Magnus' eyes are blown wide. "Bro, if you don't do it I'll do it myself!"

"No thanks," Even says and picks at the grass, feeling a little more reassured. There's still a horde of butterflies in his belly. "You don't think it's weird? Me asking him so young, I mean."

With his head tipped to one side, his 'William Hair' swinging to the side of his face, Magnus says, "No. We all knew it was going to happen sometime. It's maybe a bit sooner than we expected, but it makes sense. You're practically married anyway."

Even laughs a lot at that. Puts a hand on Magnus' shoulder and gives him an affectionate shake.

"Thanks, Mags."

"No worries," then he sits straight up with his eyes wide open. "Do you know how you're going to propose?"

"Of course I do," Even says, raising his eyebrows in what he hopes is an _I'm Even Bech Næsheim, master romancer and how dare you doubt me sort of way._

He doesn't really have a plan. He's just going to take it completely chill.

He'll try to, anyway.

*

"Halla," Isak says as he drops down next to Even, laying both of his legs over Even's outstretched ones.

His smile is completely involuntary when he reaches up to tuck some of Isak's curls behind his ears, his snapback laying long forgotten on the grass somewhere.

He parrots back, "Halla, baby."

Isak leans forward to peck Even's lips, once, twice, nips his nose and laughs when Even yelps in surprise.

"What was that for?" Isak shrugs. Lays his head down on Even's shoulder and picks up one of his hands to play with the fingers. 

"I haven't seen you in a while."

"So you assault my nose?"

Another shrug and then Isak says completely unironically, "Yolo." The lack of irony is what has Even gasping for breath in between his laughter.

"Did you really just say that?" he manages to heave out. "You're such a cool eighteen year old."

A smile has taken over Isak's face, too. "Thanks," he responds mockingly.

Their laughter dies down for a while and Even focuses on the sound of Isak's breathing mingled with his own, the curls ticking his ear and the hands playing with his fingers.

Which reminds him of the ring he has in his pocket intended to go on Isak's finger, preferably in the near future. Very near future. As in, whenever he can gain the fucking confidence.

The thought brings back the nervousness and maybe Even shouldn't have eaten all those brownies earlier, but they really did taste very good. He regrets it now that he feels them bubbling away in his gut.

"Haven't found the video yet?" He asks to distract himself, get one surprise out of the way before he thinks about the next one.

"No," Isak answers in the form of a huff. "If you would just _tell_ me..."

"No-can-do's-ville, babydoll."

"Fine. See if I let you do anything for me again."

Even strokes a finger down Isak's cheek. "Hey, I love you."

"Enough to tell me the name of the video?"

"Even my love has its limits, baby."

Isak's mouth drops open, eyebrows raised, hand to the chest, all the gestures that make up his faux offended face. "I can't believe this. It's my birthday and you aren't even doing stuff for me."

Well, if things go to plan, Even's going to be doing quite a lot of stuff to Isak later.

(Not all sexual; there's still a ring in his pocket that he needs to put to use.)

Even raises his eyebrows, gestures around the space to all their friends, the food, the laughter.

"Okay, maybe you do a bit of stuff," Even nods in approval, rubbing his nose against Isak's. Isak looks around at the gathering of their friends. "William is here. Everyone hates him. Did you invite him?"

"Of course I did. I invited all of your best friends."

"Fuck off. The day William becomes my best friend is the day you tell me the name of this video."

Chuckling, Even presses two solid kisses against Isak's right cheek, feeling the muscles around his mouth twitch upwards despite his pretty accurate impersonation of Grumpy Cat.

Even adores him.

He adores Isak, not the cat.

"Isak! Even!" Jonas calls from where the other boys are standing with a football. Magnus is watching the two with a grin and shoots a thumbs up in Even's direction, tilting his head questioningly. Even shakes his head, _not yet_ , and Magnus deflates a bit before perking right back up as Vilde comes over to him. They make a nice couple. They're a bit like the brownies Even had earlier. Good in small quantities, make you sick if you're exposed to too much. But it's okay, they're probably just in love.

"Lovebirds, stop hooking up!" Mahdi shouts at them and Isak grins, pulling Even up by the hands before they start to make their way over.

"I was just trying to get the name of the movie! Don't act like you don't want to see it as much as I do."

The ring still feels heavy in his pocket, but Even is so, so sure that this is what he wants that it eases its weight a bit. If this is what life with Isak will be like, he's not willing to let it go anytime soon.

*

It's 21:21, and Even has just found out that Isak was born at that exact time eighteen years ago. It's only a bit of a turn on.

Isak found the video and went into his old room to watch it, because they've migrated to kollektivet for the evening celebrations. It's a little sentimental because it holds so many of their memories in between the creases of the couch and under the creaky floorboards, in the cracks of the walls and hidden inside the cabinetry.

Now Isak is out of the room and nearly dragging Even to the door, despite the fact that it's not even late yet and the party is still raging.

"Baby, slow," Even tries to placate. Isak is looking mightily flustered.

"Even! You can't tell me to slow when you- you made that video! I just -" It's then that Even realises that there are small tears in Isak's eyes, and Even positively melts with love.

He pulls Isak into his arms. "Baby, baby. What is it?" Isak sniffs. "Hm?"

"I love you," he says, whispers it into his neck and the words travel through Even's body until they latch themselves around his heart. "I never - is that how you see me?"

Even pulls back to look at Isak's face. It's slightly red and there are the smallest of tear tracks running under his eyes. He wipes them away with his thumbs, palms either side of Isak's face.

"Of course," he whispers. They're still in the living room where the party is still going on, so it's perhaps not the best place to be having this talk, but in the words of Isak, yolo.

"Baby," Isak says and his voice is strained. He reaches up to wind his arms around Even's neck, letting them each breathe the other in.

There's a burning in Even's eyes too. He doesn't let them slip but the tears gather on his waterline anyway. He'd never imagined feeling so secure in a relationship before, had never felt that _yes, this is going to last, we're going to make it._

But wrapped around Isak and Isak wrapped around him, Even is more sure than he's been of anything that he wants to take the next step.

"Okay," Isak says as he pulls back, wipes his eyes, runs a hand through his hair. "Okay, do you want to leave now?"

"Why? What do you want to do?" Even says as he waggles his eyebrows and Isak huffs fondly.

"You know what I want to _do_ , Even."

"Mhm? And what's that?" He's leaning closer, their lips brushing as they speak.

"You."

Their lips meet for a second, and yeah, okay staying at this party is less inviting than going home and giving Isak some good birthday sex.

Shouting goodbyes as they grab jackets and hats, Isak screams, "Race you!" as they run to the bus stop, and yes, Even wants to make this man his husband. He's got the ring, all he needs to do is ask.

*

As soon as they get home it's shedding clothes and quick gasps, stumbling feet and low moans. Isak underneath him, mouth open as Even slips inside, hands intertwined all the while.

They go for a bit, taking it slow, making it last. They're both flushed and sated as Even pulls out and flops down next to Isak on the bed.

He's taking heaving breaths when Isak's hand comes to slap on his chest, moving up and down with the hitch of his breathing.

"Can I have some water, baby?" he asks. His voice is hoarse from the moaning.

"Sure, there's some in the kitchen," Even replies, still trying to catch his breath. Sex is exhausting.

"Well, I can't get it!"

"Why not?"

"Even," Isak says, completely straight faced. "I just had your dick inside me for an hour. I deserve this. _And_ it's my birthday."

In his sex hazy brain, that fact had completely slipped his mind. If he had remembered he never would've protested.

"Anything for the birthday boy," he chimes as he heaves himself out of bed.

Even is nearly out of the room when Isak asks, "Could I use your phone?"

"What for? What about yours?"

"The battery's flat," he picks at loose thread on the duvet cover. "I want to watch the movie again."

" _Baby_ ," Even is so, so in love. He bends down to pull on some boxers so he doesn't freeze to death - he's really not ready to reach his end, not with Isak in his life - and picks up his discarded jeans to throw them to his boyfriend. "It's in one of the pockets."

He walks into the kitchen to pour Isak some water from the fridge, when not a minute later there's a call from the bedroom, "Even?"

"Yeah?"

"Where'd you get this ring? Is it yours? I've never seen it."

A ring? Even hadn't got a new ring for himself, which means - oh, _fuck_.

He quickly drops everything he's doing and races the three steps it takes to reach the bedroom.

His legs really do feel like spaghetti now, but like really over cooked spaghetti, when it's so weak you can't even twirl it around your fork without it breaking.

Even decides to have the talk with himself about why he is so detailedly describing the ways in which his legs compare to an Italian food later. Files it away for a time when Isak is not sitting in their bed holding the ring that Even was planning on proposing to him with.

It's a bit of an awkward situation.

"Baby? Is it yours?" Isak questions again.

"Um," Even swallows. Thinks about what to say. Decides to just say it and let Isak interpret it as he wants. "I was planning on giving it to you?" It comes out as a bit of a question, but at least it's out there.

"To me? Is it a birthday present?" Isak looks confused, and despite the circumstances Even's heart finds it in itself to absolutely melt. The bastard.

"Not really. It could be given at any time of the year."

Isak seems to catch on then, breathing picking up a little. "Is it - is it-"

"An engagement ring?" Even finishes for him. "Yep, woohoo, one point for Isak!" He regrets it immediately after he says it. Not his best line ever.

Isak laughs then, a tiny chuckle and then full on bellows. He's got his eyes shut tight and the ring clasped safely in his palm. Even wants to laugh, too, but he wants to make sure that Isak's laughing just because he can, and not at the idea of them getting married. They are very young. Not everyone approves of marriage at a young age. Isak may be one of those people; he'd never thought to ask. They'd talked about getting married, but they never discussed what age it would happen.

"Isak?" he asks.

"Sorry, sorry. It's just, you probably had some elaborate, romantic way to ask me and I end up finding the ring in your jeans." He laughs some more. Even laughs too.

They calm and Even comes to sit on the bed next to Isak. "I actually didn't have a plan. I just kind of _knew_ I was going to ask you. It didn't really matter how.”

"No, it doesn't," Isak murmurs back, his eyes half lidded and trained on Even's lips.

They meet in the middle and the kiss is soft, no tongue or dirty tricks, just lips pressed to lips. It's soft and sweet. Even loves these kisses.

"Is this you asking me to marry you?" Isak asks as they separate.

Even strokes his face. "Why, do you want it to be?"

"Yeah," it's said so softly Even can barely hear it, but the words are there and tangible. Even's so lucky.

"Is this you saying yes?"

"Yes."

*

**Author's Note:**

> ok sorry if wasn't too good. again, my first fic so it probably isn't great, hahah. is this the truth speaking or the depression? i'll never know.
> 
> thanks!!


End file.
